As the school year comes to a close, it can be challenging to keep students engaged and motivated. However, with some creative end-of-the-year projects, you can keep your students on task and excited about their learning. In this three-part blog post, we will share a few easy-to-implement project ideas, how to continue to deploy learning studios while the students are working on projects, and some creative AI tools that can help unmotivated students work through their projects.

​4. Passion Project: Allow your students to pursue a project that aligns with their passions and interests. This could be a research project, a creative writing piece, or something else entirely. By giving them the freedom to explore their interests, you can help them stay motivated and engaged.

5. Digital Portfolio: Have your students create a digital portfolio that showcases their best work from the past year. This could include writing samples, artwork, or other projects that demonstrate their growth and progress.

By incorporating these end-of-the-year projects into your curriculum, you can help your students stay engaged and motivated while also providing opportunities for them to reflect on their learning and pursue their passions.

As you prepare to execute an end-of-year project, consider creating learning studios to help break down the project into manageable parts. Chunking the project will enable the students to manage their time more efficiently. Additionally, the teacher can still conduct small groups to ensure that the students are grasping the standards aligned with the project and to authenticate the learning process. You can find sample learning studios and ideas in the project checklist. For the project template, click on this link.

Explore the different small group lessons that support the end of the year projects. 

Place the End-of-the-year project as part of the Future Ready Studio.  Remember to chunk the project to help keep the students motivated and to encourage collaboration. 

Riffit is an exciting tool that allows students to turn any written text into a hip-hop, country, or rock song. This fun application is perfect for the end-of-year project, as students can transform their essays into catchy, musical compositions to share with their class or friends. With Riffit, students can unleash their creativity and become the next mix master!

As an instructional coach with years of experience in the classroom, I have observed that slide presentations are the most popular project format used by students. While the content of the project is the most important aspect, the design elements can help to enhance it. However, some students struggle with organizing their ideas and putting them down on paper, which is where SlidesGPT comes in handy. With SlidesGPT, creating an end-of-year project becomes easy and convenient. Give SlidesGPT a try and see how it can help you generate a starting point for your project.

If students are struggling to start their projects, they can use Magic Studio from Canva. First, they should write down a few keywords that they want to focus on for their project. They can then use Magic Studio to create posters, brochures, slides, and more. Magic Studio will help them transform their initial keywords into a polished project.

​Take creative writing to the next level with this story creation generator, storly.ai. Storly.ai uses AI-generated prompts to help students to create stories to share.

​While the students are working through the end-of-the-year projects, design check-ins with snorkel.ai to ensure that their project is going as planned and to authenticate the learning.

The free download and videos will showcase five “Freemium” AI tools that can help with Differentiated Instruction. The tools all hyper focus on leveled questions and text, building upon prior knowledge, as well as tying the content back to the learning standards.

“Work smarter, not harder" is a motto that many educators follow when trying to implement differentiated instruction for all learners. Now, with diffit.me, differentiated instruction has become much easier. diffit.me enables teachers to quickly differentiate text, generate questions for YouTube videos, and design reading passages based on learning standards. The best part is that most of the reading passages can be broken down into interactive notes. The ready-made activities will literally cut the work time for Differentiated Instruction in half. You can watch a video on how I use diffit.me as an instructional coach, and feel free to join us on April 22 for a FREE workshop on AI Tools for Teachers.

Conker.ai helps differentiate instruction by allowing the teacher to generate quiz questions that align with the standards quickly.  The teacher can build out a wide range of questions based on the learning targets and the students' interest and elevate the learning with the customizable features.  The questions can be read aloud to the students, and challenging questions can be designed based on the context.  The best part of conker.ai is that the questions can quickly be exported to a Google Form or learning management systems like Canvas.  Using conker.ai as a formative assessment, the teacher can quickly form data-driven groups based on standard-based questions to help drive the small group instruction.  Conker.ai is the key to Differentiated Instruction.

Write Up from: Eigo.ai
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​Learning English can be tough. It often takes around 2000 hours of study to become good at it. This can be even harder for people whose first language is very different from English.
Eigo.AI is here to make learning English easier and more effective. We use the latest AI technology to create lessons for all levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

Our lessons include activities that help with reading, listening, speaking, and writing in English. With Eigo.AI, students get quick feedback on how they speak and write, which helps them improve faster. They can also see how much progress they're making over time.

We cover many interesting topics in our lessons. Students can learn about history, science, and famous people in popular culture. This way, they're not just learning English; they're also learning about different subjects that might interest them.

As an instructional coach, I have the opportunity to spend time in the classrooms, plan with the teachers, and provide professional development workshops based on differentiated instruction. In the last fifteen years, I have heard multiple teachers say that they want to provide quick feedback to the students, but with 150 students, it is hard to get that information back quickly.  

Until now, I have just agreed with them and tried to find quick shortcuts for grading and planning so the teachers would have more time to provide quality feedback. With the ClassCompanion AI tool, the students can receive fast feedback from a Bot with the teacher's input. Class Companion provides quality feedback with real-time reports and allows the teacher to assess the students with customizable rubrics. With this program, teachers have saved time and allowed the students multiple chances to practice their learning craft. 

Capturing students' attention, getting them interested in a topic, and finding ways for them to express themselves are always at the forefront of teachers' minds. With the highly engaging website, kidsthinkwide, teachers can provoke thinking, imagination, collaboration, and communication of an aligned standard. Kidsthinkwide is a website that uses AI to help generate thought-provoking photos. The photos grab the student's attention, and the teacher can use the images to connect the learning targets. With the correct set of questions, the teacher can quickly differentiate instruction based on prior knowledge. Take time to explore kidsthinkwide.  ​

Collaboration is a crucial part of education. It allows students to learn from each other, share ideas, and develop essential skills that will be valuable in their future careers. However, collaboration isn't always easy. Students may come from different backgrounds, have different learning styles, and may not be comfortable working with others. As educators, it's our responsibility to break down these barriers and create an environment that fosters collaboration. Here are some tips to help you do just that.
1. Set clear expectations: Before starting any collaborative project, it's essential to set clear expectations for what each student should contribute. This will help students understand their roles and responsibilities, and ensure that everyone is working towards a common goal.

4. Provide opportunities for reflection: Reflection is an essential part of the learning process. Provide opportunities for students to reflect on their collaborative experiences, what they learned, and what they could have done differently. This will help them develop self-awareness and improve their collaboration skills over time.

5. Celebrate successes: Celebrate the successes of your students. When a group successfully completes a collaborative project, take the time to acknowledge their hard work and achievements. This will help build confidence and motivate students to continue collaborating in the future.
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Collaboration is a powerful tool for learning, but it's not always easy. Breaking down barriers and fostering collaboration among students takes time and effort. However, the benefits are well worth it. By creating a collaborative learning environment, you'll be helping your students develop essential skills that will be valuable throughout their lives.

One non-traditional method is mini-creation projects, where students work on a project or problem over one or two studio times. This approach allows students to apply what they've learned in a real-world context and fosters collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. By working together towards a common goal, students are more engaged and motivated to learn.

Non-traditional teaching methods may require more planning and preparation, but the benefits can be significant. By creating a more engaging and interactive learning experience, students are more likely to retain information, develop critical thinking skills, and be motivated to learn. As we continue to evolve in the digital age, it's important to explore new ways of teaching to meet the needs of today's learners.

Today, I going to share out ideas that take little prep time but allow the students time to create, collaborate, and use critical thinking while applying the skills that they have learned in class.  

This idea came from a math instructional coach from CyFair ISD, Danielle Haymes.  Danielle and I were working with a team of 4th grade math teachers when she suggested that the students could showcase what they know about geometry by using a Graffiti Wall. 

For voice directions, go to vocaroo.com.  This is an easy way to record the directions.  After recording the directions, generate a QR Code and post the QR code near the Graffiti Wall. 

If you have used Graffiti walls in the past, feel free to share what the students have created.  

Data Meetings 
Individual data meetings allow the students to see the visual progress of their academic growth within the classroom setting.  According to Dr. Stephanie Knight-Hay, when students see their growth over time, they invest more in the learning process and become more motivated to complete the learning activities.  When designing a data meeting, try to keep it short and to the point and provide the students with a key takeaway.

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Overview of MAP Reports
Action Plan 
​Designing Differentiated Instruction  Small groups  

What to include in the data meetings.
​1. Think about showcasing three data points with the students.  The first data point could be the current grade in the classroom.  Display how all formative and summative assessments add up to generate their current score in the class.
Next, showcase the data points from an online program.  For example, if the teacher currently uses EdPuzzle in the classroom, showcase the scores, the time spent watching the program, and the completion of the EdPuzzles. Learn more by watching this video on how to read the EdPuzzle data.
Other examples of online programs showcasing good data points that align with the standards could include but are not limited to the following programs.
ST Math, Desmos, Dreambox, Legends of Learning, Achieve 3000, Amplify, Peardeck, NearPod, Zearn
The third data point to include in the data meeting is the number of learning activities completed on the student checklist or the completed assignments.  If the teacher is deploying a checklist, look to see how many items are completed on the checklist and quickly check for completed studio activities.   If the teachers are currently not using a student checklist, consider showcasing the number of completed assignments in class and what assignments still need to be turned in to increase the overall score.

Extra Data Point: NWEA MAP RIT Scores
If your school deploys the MAP assessment, consider adding the current RIT score to the data meeting.  In the next section, I will showcase an overview of the MAP Reports to use to help impact achievement.

​MagicSchool.AI is a helpful resource for planning, designing, and customizing lesson or unit plans. As an instructional coach, I believe that Magic School can supplement the district-provided resources and enhance the pacing guide. Some of the highlights of Magic School include ideas for choice boards, project-based learning, text leveling, accommodation suggestions, and much more. This is an excellent tool for both new and veteran teachers to help spark differentiated instruction magic into small-group instruction and lesson plans.

As an instructional coach, I often get asked how to differentiate reading levels in a classroom where students have different reading abilities. This is where diffit.me comes in handy, as it removes the guesswork and makes it easy to provide differentiated instruction and activities to all students.

Before diffit.me, I used to suggest newsela.com to teachers. It provides the same article in five different lexile levels along with questions and external links for a fee. However, diffit.me is currently free and offers more than just leveled text. It also has question sets, vocabulary, open-ended questions, and much more.

Moreover, diffit.me can turn a reading passage into an interactive Google or PowerPoint activity, which can be completed online or printed for the learning studio activities. Watch the video below to learn more about this helpful tool. I will be sharing this with all my teams to help with differentiated instruction and learning studio days.

As an adult, I enjoy learning from classroom teachers. They are passionate, insightful, and have a lot of knowledge about different subjects. However, sometimes when I attend a Chemistry or Algebra 2 class, I have to concentrate harder to understand the learning goals. If I feel this way, how does a fifteen or sixteen-year-old comprehend the information?

Fortunately, there is a tool called "Explain Like I'm Five" or explainlikeimfive.io. This AI-powered tool allows teachers to enter the learning targets or standards into the website and receive an explanation of the content in four different levels. The levels are distinguished as "dumb", "dumb-ish", "smart-ish", and "smart". This is a great way to break down complex content for all students, regardless of their level of understanding. However, the website requires tokens to access the answers, which means that teachers or students will have to pay for the differentiated content.

Don't be intimidated by the tokens. Give explainlikeimfive.io a chance and see how it works for you.

I must say, I am absolutely thrilled with EduAide.ai! Using it feels like I've hit the jackpot as an instructional coach. I'm not exaggerating when I say that, if I had to pick just one AI tool to help educators with Differentiated Instruction, EduAide.ai would be my top recommendation.

To see for yourself, start by watching the video below. You'll be amazed at how easy it is to use EduAide.ai to plan learning objectives, provide leveled independent texts, create engaging collaborative activities, and so much more. It's truly magical!

Diffit.me is an artificial intelligence tool that allows quick-level text and questions based on current reading grade level. Last week, while reading a daily blog post, I came across the AI tool diffit.me for teachers. I quickly signed up for the AI program and used the tool to generate an article for a third-grade level.  ​

Here are my top ten things I enjoyed about the program. 

1.  It was easy to use
2. I can search for topics based on standards or an article theme.
3. I can also paste an article to change the reading level, or I was able to insert a web link to a published article.
4. The program provided a summary of the article.
5. There were keywords with definitions from the article. 
6. It works well with Google Docs.  
7. The rigor behind the extended response and open-ended questions was impressive.
8. I can switch the article over to a native language. 
9. The article can be copied and pasted into the learning management systems
10. The ability to quickly deploy differentiated text to the students. 

How to Incorporate Diffit.me into Learning Studios
As an instructional coach, I plan on showcasing diffit.me to the teachers during the planning process. As the teachers are designing the lessons, I will showcase how to use the district-provided resources and how using the AI program can help to differentiate the content for all levels of learning.  
Example Lesson Outline 
SG: The teacher can use diffit.me to find leveled reading passages to help teach or reteach a standard.
IP: Leveled comprehension questions from the article can be answered from the article. (The high group might start at the independent studio and read the article before answering the questions.  
DC: Students will learn or relearn about the standard from an EdPuzzle or an online adaptive program. 
FR: The open-ended questions can be used for discussion questions during the future-ready studio.
VS: The students can use one of the key vocabulary words from the article to generate a Frayer model. 

Key: SG - Small Group, IP - Independent Practice, DC - Digital Content, FR - Future Ready Studio, VS - Vocabulary Studio 

Join us next week to explore another Simple and Quick AI tool to try in the classroom. 

As an instructional coach, I have shared many reasons why deploying small group instruction within the classroom learning environments is essential.  Within small group instruction, the teacher can differentiate the learning targets, quickly check for understanding, conduct in-the-moment formative assessments, build academic relationships, and conduct data meetings to help increase student ownership.  The importance of small group instruction has grown even more due to the ease of using artificial intelligence within online applications.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing multiple aspects of the learning process, the creation elements, and classroom communication.  The students can quickly request a four-paragraph persuasive paper on any topic with cited sources with the use of AI.  The students can take a photo of a math problem, and the online application will not only provide the answer for the math problem but will showcase the step by steps needed to get to that answer.  Students can merge two pieces of artwork to make it look like their masterpieces.  Students can also show mind maps on how to conduct a lab with a click of a mouse.  This does not mean shutting off all technology but instead using the fish bowl learning method to ensure the students are completing their work and including relevant learning projects for the students to complete.

The Fish Bowl learning method is where the students showcase the learning process through collaboration activities, applying the skills learned in relevant projects, and explaining the steps for mastery of the standards.  That means the students will complete multiple learning studios in visual environments that all build toward an end project.  The learning studios include attending and participating in a small group instruction lesson led by the teacher and independent practice where the steps and process are displayed in handwritten or typed.  The independent practice activities will be applied to the learning targets' showcase project.  Digital Content Studios can use artificial intelligence as a tutoring system to enhance the standards taught in the small group studio. Finally, the Future Ready Studio will allow time for students to collaborate, communicate, use critical thinking skills, and connect the standards to relevant standard-based projects. To learn more about how AI can act like a personalized learning tutor, watch the Khan Academy Ted Talk from May 2023.

​The Independent practice studio allows the students to showcase their understanding of the learning targets.   Of course, the use of AI tools does not fit in this studio.  However, using Autodraw helps the students visually display the sequence of events, the setting, or predictions that align with the book study objectives.  The Autodraw tool allows the students to draw their images and use the magic pen to determine the possible photos related to the thought process.

Have you ever used YouTube in the classroom as a second teacher?  Or have you used EdPuzzle to check for understanding of the content within the video?  But have you found a YouTube video that you really like and wish there were questions already made for the students to answer after watching the video? Well, that is what Kiwi Video does for you.  Drop any YouTube video into the application, and it will generate a quick quiz and a summary of the video for a quick check that aligns with the video.

Also, take a moment to watch the TedTalk for how Khan Academy will be using AI as a personalized learning tutor.  It is worth the time to watch and learn about the power of AI tools in the classroom.

The Future Ready studio is where students can showcase their understanding of the content through relevant mini-projects.  If you are new to the future-ready studio terminology, think of this studio as the higher-order thinking skills.  This is where the students can create, collaborate, communicate, use critical thinking skills, and connect the content to real-world scenarios.
Whimsical is one of my favorite AI tools to help support the students through the Fish Bowl learning process.  Whimsical is an online application that will take a question and develop a step-by-step guide for answering the question.  The mind map can then be used for creating more in-depth relevant projects.
For the last few years, I have been promoting and using Canva as a creation tool for the future-ready studio.  The tools and resources are so easy to use that the creation aspect is very user-friendly.  Now, Canva has added Magic Write, which enhances the creation and thought process similar to ChatGPT.  For those students that need help to get started with a project, this AI tool generates the starting point for the students.

Day One: Take time to go over the project objectives, expectations with the project progression board, and rubric requirements.
Day Two: Using the formative assessment of the citation process, the small group studio will review how to cite the resources used for the research project and where to place cited sources within the project. 
Day Three: Set up project data meetings to showcase the students their current rubric score and how to increase the score by making modifications to the project. 
Day Four: During the small group instruction studio, take time to talk with the students about plagiarism and how a teacher can check for plagiarism using online resources like Grammarly.  This is a great time to showcase the AI tools that check to see if the research elements were created by AI.  

The students will be spending the majority of their time in the Future Ready Studio completing their research project.  The checklist will chunk the project for the students so that they can continue to stay focused on the task at hand and complete the project within the given timeframe.  
The creation choice board is a great way to showcase a variety of presentation tools for the research project. 

The Coaching Blocks for Blended Learning is a guide on how to continue to coach classroom teachers through the deployment of learning studios.   In order to generate sustainability within the classroom environment, the Coaching Blocks will showcase five strategies to try during the coaching process.  Please note that the coaching blocks are designed to follow up after a year of supporting the blended learning process.  More resources and ideas for coaching blended learning can be found in the Field Guide and dynaguide.org.

Toward the end of the first year of deploying blended learning studios, take a move to reflect on the pacing guide to determine if there were any other days where studios could have fit into the lessons.  Reflective planning works best with a content-specific focus,  meaning spending time with the 8th-grade math team and reviewing their lesson planning calendar.  As a team, look for days where learning studios could fit within the weekly and monthly plans.

Deploying learning studios consistently helps to increase the understanding of why learning studios are essential and the studio's expectations.  The video below will showcase how to look back at the pacing guide and explore ways to include learning studios every week.

Data-driven learning environments are essential for the small group instruction studio.  As part of the coaching blocks, it is necessary to showcase why data-driven small group instruction can help close the learning process gaps, build academic relationships, and conduct quality formative assessments.  In this section on the building blocks, we showcase how to use the formative assessment data to differentiate small group instruction at three levels.  The video can be found on dynaguide.org under data-driven learning environments. 

Implement relevant learning activities to increase student engagement and ownership in any classroom.  In the video below, I will showcase six strategies to ensure that learning studio activities are relevant.  The six strategies include

• Adding in real-world project activities and applications of the learning targets.
• Including communication and sharing opportunities within the learning studios
• Proving choice in the learning activities
• Applying differentiated learning studios that stretch and enhance the learning studios
• Generating open-ended questions and mini-projects that align with the learning targets and student interest.
• Including hands-on studio activities provide a relevant application to the learning targets. ​

The Power of One More showcases how to use the Field Guide for the 12 Elements of Student Engagement and Ownership Infused in Blended Learning Studios as a resource to support the teachers by trying one more strategy.  The video below will showcase how to suggest new blended learning strategies in the classroom gradually.   We will explore the progress indicator, advanced tips, and tricks, where to find supportive videos, and the use of visual cues to guide the teachers through each of the elements.